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NSW, Queensland agree on Basin Plan implementation

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell has signed the Intergovernmental Agreement to implement the Basin Plan. The Queensland government has also signed, meaning that the agreement has now been signed by all Basin states and the Commonwealth.

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More than a year after the Murray-Darling Basin Plan was signed into law, Queensland and New South Wales have finally agreed on how to implement the water plan.

Queensland signed the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) for implementing the Basin Plan on Wednesday night. NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell joined Prime Minister Tony Abbott in Canberra to also formally sign up on Thursday morning.

The IGA sets out the plan for implementing the buyback program and water-saving infrastructure projects agreed to in the Basin Plan, which aims to restore the Murray-Darling to health while maintaining agricultural production.

While Victoria, South Australia and the ACT signed up relatively quickly, NSW has been the most vocal holdout.

In signing the IGA, the NSW government has relented on its previous demand that the Commonwealth agree to a three per cent cap on irrigation entitlements buybacks, per valley, per decade.

The Federal Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment, Simon Birmingham, says NSW has now agreed that the Commonwealth's commitment to cap buybacks at 1,500 gigalitres basin-wide is sufficient.

"The commitment that we're making is a very real commitment to give serious priority to infrastructure [over buybacks], and I think a big part of the change is that they trust us to deliver on our word. The previous government promised a lot of infrastructure but then spent a lot more on buybacks," Senator Birmingham said.

"We are very determined that we will deliver the infrastructure projects."

NSW will also get an additional $4 million cut of Commonwealth's $100 million Regional Economic Diversification fund. That will bring NSW's total share to $32.5 million.

South Australian Senator Birmingham says that increase is small in the context of the $13 billion Basin Plan water recovery program, and says other states won't suffer.

"Other states still get a pretty good cut of that; $25 million each to Victoria and South Australia, and $15 million to Queensland.

"So it's a good news story for NSW, but certainly this hasn't been a squabble about money as much as it's been about a commitment of how the water will be recovered in a way that preserves the economic future of Basin communities," Senator Birmingham said.

The Federal Government is yet to legislate to cap Basin-wide buybacks at 1,500 gigalitres.

Senator Birmingham says there's a busy legislative agenda before the parliament, but the Government will move to put the cap in place this year.

Irrigators say the NSW Government's decision to hold out for a better deal has paid off.

Chair of the NSW Irrigators Council Richard Stott says irrigators will benefit from extra money for upgrades.

"NSW asked more money for infrastructure for works and measures, included works at Menindee and the Nimmie Caira project on the Lower Murrumbidgee.

"They're really going to help out NSW with the SDL's."

NSW Minister Katrina Hodgkinson says she is glad she held out to get a better deal for farmers, irrigators and the people of NSW.

"It has been a long haul, some five years of hard work and tough negotiations, but it has been worth it to see a much better deal come to fruition."

Queensland Farmers Federation's Ian Johnson says the implementation of the plan by 2019 involves buy backs and reduction in the water usage through water use efficiency programs

"So this affects irrigators in the Lower Balonne, groundwater Condamine Alluvium and in the Border Rivers area, " he said.

"The Water Resource plans will implement cuts to entitlements to bring them in line with the sustainable levels, that are defined in the plan."

Mr Johnson says the cuts are 'significant', in the Lower Balonne, there is 100gl to come out of the system, within the Condamine Alluvium, the Plan requires a 40gl reduction and in the Border Rivers catchment an eight gigalitre reduction.

"On top of that, there is also the question of the amount of water that maybe required to supply downstream flows in the Darling River and there is a question about the quantum of that, the current figure is around 140gl," he said

"That is one that we have not accepted and that really needs to be clarified."

He says irrigators still want know where the water for the environment is going, what difference it will make and how that will be monitored.

In signing on to the Murray-Darling Plan Queensland is allocated $15 million under the National Partnership Agreement, to assist communities to adjust to changes that will come about as a consequence to cuts in water entitlements.